What is in a Word?

Blogs are not supposed to be written in first person, but this is a quest for serious dialogue–hopefully from all sides of the issue.

I am writing an article on some of the words that we use daily. The question I’m studying concerns how do we, as a multi-background people, understand certain words and where does our understanding come from? Is there a right or wrong in how we define important words that we use every day?

“Morality” What defines it? Does the definition change? Why? if there is change, is it good or bad? If there is no change, is that good, bad or neutral to our lives?

Like this:

4 Comments:

Sue, I don’t know where you got the idea that blogs aren’t supposed to be written in the first person. By a wide margin, most of them, including most of the best ones, are written in first person. News stories aren’t supposed to be written in first person, but most blogs are personal, individual viewpoint journals. First person is completely appropriate.

Your questions about morality, what it means, where it comes from etc. are huge philosophic topics that have been under historical debate for centuries. In the past, many assumed morality had to come from religion. Since there are different expressions of religion, wars were fought over the implied question of which one was “right”. In a broad sense, all religions are “right”, and also all wrong. They all contain both useful wisdom, and enslaving dogmas.

Some believe morality comes from ethics, in other words the codification of “correct” behavior. Doing the right thing. However both ethics and morality can either be believed to be absolutes or flexible depending on situations. Some think good and bad are black and white matters. But we don’t play by the same rules at work or school that we do at home, so what’s right in one place might be wrong in another. Not so easy to define, is it?

Because I’m not a believer in absolutes. I’m a pragmatist. I judge “rightness” by what works, and what works in some situations, will not work in others. If you are a believer in absolutes, by contrast, you will hold an opposite view.

Mikey, many people are pragmatists when it comes to morality, or as you say–rightness, today. What is your solution when the majority of the nation disagrees with your view of what is pragmatic and therefore moral? If there are no absolutes, how do you avoid confusion, if not anarchy?